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Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe: an Introduction Author(S): Jon Elster Source: the University of Chicago Law Review, Vol Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe: An Introduction Author(s): Jon Elster Source: The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 58, No. 2, Approaching Democracy: A New Legal Order for Eastern Europe, (Spring, 1991), pp. 447-482 Published by: The University of Chicago Law Review Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1599963 Accessed: 10/06/2008 15:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=uclr. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We enable the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org ARTICLES Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe: An Introduction Jon Elstert Since 1989, seven countries in Eastern Europe have under- taken the transition from one-party rule to constitutional democ- racy: Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Six of the seven are currently rewriting their constitutions. The exception is Hungary, although that coun- try's constitution is very much a patchwork, and new constitu- tional efforts can be expected there, too, within the next few years. In addition, several of the constituent republics are writing or re- vising their constitutions, including the Czech and the Slovak Lands in Czechoslovakia and Croatia and Slovenia in Yugoslavia. Finally, the German Democratic Republic had made some progress toward creating a new constitution before the process was over- taken by unification. Altogether, therefore, we are dealing with at least a dozen constitution-making processes. This wave of constitution-making is not altogether unique. In the late 1700s, the individual American states, the United States itself, and France enacted a series of democratic constitutions. The wave of revolutions in 1848 also included brief constitutional epi- t Edward L. Ryerson Professor of Political Science, and Co-Director,Center for the Study of Constitutionalismin Eastern Europe, The University of Chicago. In addition to the sources cited below, this article draws on informationprovided by correspondentmembers of the Center for the Study of Constitutionalismin Eastern Europe at The University of ChicagoLaw School: Wiktor Osiatynski (Warsaw),Andras Sajo (Buda- pest), Branko Smerdel (Zagreb), Peter Kresak (Bratislava), David Franklin (Prague), Vojte^h Cepl (Prague), Krenar Loloci (Tirana), Gueorgui Poshtov (Sofia), and Gyorgy Frunda (Bucharest). I am also indebted to discussions with Stephen Holmes, Aanund Hyl- land, Adam Przeworski,and Cass Sunstein. 447 448 The University of Chicago Law Review [58:447 sodes. After World War I, many of the Central and Eastern Euro- pean states set up new constitutions that, with the exception of Czechoslovakia,were not destined to last for long. After World War II, Italy, West Germany, and Japan created democratic con- stitutions.1 In the 1960s, a number of former British and French colonies in Africa became independent and enacted new constitu- tions. In the mid-1970s, Greece, Portugal, and Spain created new constitutions that broke with the authoritarianpast.2 Such precedents notwithstanding,the current wave stands out in the following respects. First, all these countries have emerged from communist rule. Second, they all have pre-communistconsti- tutional traditions.3Third, along with political modernization,they are all undertakingsimultaneous transitions from central planning to a market economy.4Fourth, the histories of the countries are tightly intertwined, creating a stock of common memories-and common animosities.6 Finally, the developments of 1989 can be seen as a snowballing process in which events in one country in- spired and accelerated those in others. Although both similar and interconnected, the countries and their paths to democracyalso differ in a number of ways. Czecho- slovakia and Yugoslaviaare federally organized,whereas the other five countries have a unitary state. Czechoslovakia,Hungary, and Poland are in some vague yet recognizable sense more ad- vanced-both economicallyand culturally-than the group of Bal- kan countries. An important explanatory variable may be the de- gree of repression during communist rule. On this scale, the countries may be tentatively ranked in the following order, from I For good studies of the West Germanand Japanese cases, see Peter H. Merkl, The Originof the West GermanRepublic (Oxford,1963); Kyoko Inoue, MacArthur'sJapanese Constitution (Chicago,1991). 2 For a good study of the Spanish case, which also providesuseful comparativeperspec- tives, see AndreaBonime-Blanc, Spain's Transition to Democracy:The Politics of Consti- tution-making (Westview,1987). s True, with the exception of Czechoslovakia,none of the countries enjoyed constitu- tional democracyover the whole period between the two wars. Nevertheless,the constitu- tions that were in effect duringpart of this period remain importantmodels and sourcesof inspiration for today's constitution-makersin Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,Poland, and Romania.See notes 69-70 and accompanyingtext. 4 For an analysis of the problems posed by this simultaneoustransition, see Adam Przeworski,Political and Economic Reforms:Democracy and Market in Eastern Europe and Latin Americach 4 (Cambridge,forthcoming 1991). For a brief discussionof the inter- action between economic and political transition see also Jon Elster, When Communism dissolves, London Rev Books 3, 4-5 (Jan 25, 1990). 6 A good overviewof the whole region,with emphasison the shifting traditionsof con- flicts and alliances, is Henry Bogdan, Histoire des pays de 'Est (Perrin, 1990). 1991] Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe 449 less to more severe: Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Alba- nia, East Germany, Czechoslovakia (after 1968), and Romania.6In all countries, the issue of ethnic, linguistic, or religious minorities is important, but the patterns differ dramatically.7 In Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, the transi- tion to democracy was negotiated through Round Table Talks (RTT), whereas Romania, Albania, and Yugoslavia followed differ- ent paths. Under these conditions, the constitution-making processes in Eastern Europe amount to a gigantic natural experiment. The countries in question present an optimal degree of diversity for comparative analysis: they are neither too similar nor too different. The focus of comparison is twofold. On the one hand, one can ex- amine the processes of constitution-making. On the other hand, one can study and compare the outcome of these processes. My main interest, as a political scientist, is in the former issue: the blend of arguing and bargaining, threats and warnings, appeal to tradition, borrowing from abroad, and influence of extra-constitu- tional forces that characterizes the processes now under way in Eastern Europe.8First, I will give a brief overview of the national- ist, linguistic, and religious dynamics of the region that pervade the reform process. Then I will sketch out the events that led up to the current wave of constitution-writing, focusing on the condi- tions that made reform possible and on the processes by which the countries moved away from communist rule. Finally, I shall con- sider the constitution-making efforts in the various countries, with special emphasis on the issues being discussed and the processes being used to reach decisions on those issues. 6 Given the multi-dimensionalityof oppression, a ranking of this sort may be close to meaningless.The complexity of the historical recordprovides an additionalreason for being skeptical. I believe, however, that it is important to reflect on this issue. The perceived brutality of the former regime will determine how much opposition there will be to the former elite obtaining positions of economic privilege. It will also determine the strength of claims for retributionagainst that former elite as well as the risk and scope of witch hunt- ing. One should not automatically assume that these problems will be less serious in the "advanced"countries than in the "backward"ones. It might seem surprisingto rank Czech- oslovakiaabove Bulgariaand Albania on the scale of repression.I am not claiming,however, that there was more tolerance of opposition in those countries;rather, there was less oppres- sion because there was less opposition. 7 See notes 9-14 and accompanyingtext. 8 For a fuller discussion, see Jon Elster, Born to be Immortal: The Constitution-Mak- ing Process (CooleyLectures, University of Michigan,Apr 15-17, 1991) (on file with U Chi L Rev). 450 The University of Chicago Law Review [58:447 I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE REGION: NATIONALISM, LANGUAGE, AND RELIGION All over Eastern
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